Utilization of Assets

One of the first decisions that you will make is which assets you want to use for retirement and which assets, if any, you want to give away or leave for the next generation. Obviously, the more you want to reserve for gifting or for passing to the next generation, the more you have to accumulate during your income years. And just because you identify an asset that you want to use as a gift at some point or pass to your children, you can still benefit from that asset during your retirement.

Let's say, for example, that Dennis and Mary Glover have a $30,000 Treasury bond that is yielding 6 percent interest. They may choose to keep the $1,800 a year in interest payments and leave the bond to Greg and Connie or the grandchildren. By the time you're done with this book, you'll be able to look at each asset you have, assess its characteristics, and choose how to apply it to your retirement income strategy.